​If you spent fourth grade in an Idaho school, you learned something about the Cataldo Mission of the Sacred Heart, Idaho’s oldest standing building. Construction started in 1850, and the mission was finished in 1853. The 1884 photograph on the left was taken more than 30 years after its completion. Even this early in its history the building is showing some wear, particularly on the entrance steps where several members of the Coeur d’Alene tribe are standing.Below, the picture on the right shows the building in the mid 1920s. In the second photo you can see the Parish house on the left that was built after the first photo was taken. Also note the urns on the façade of the building. There are four in the earlier picture, and only two in the one on the right. Those were replaced in later reconstructions.

​Now, here’s a little treat for you. In 1926 the word documentary was brand new. So was a movie camera owned by one of the mines in the Silver Valley. They used it to shoot this short film below on the 75th anniversary of the building of the Cataldo Mission. The mission was in terrible shape at the time. But what makes the film so special is that Father Cataldo, the man the mission was named after, is in the film. He’s the little old priest on crutches. He did not build the mission, but it was named in his honor some years after it was built. Cataldo was one of the founders of the city of Spokane, and started Gonzaga University.

​It was Fr. Anthony Ravalli, an Italian-born priest, who designed and directed the building of the mission. The priests, and some 400 tribal members had only simple tools such as a whip saw, broad axe, augur, ropes and pulleys, and a pen knife. The flooring for the mission, the steps, and the iconic columns marking its entrance were cut from local pines. Tall wooden pillars and columns are held together by wooden pegs. No nails were used in the original construction.A stone foundation holds up 30-foot-high walls made of mud, grass, and willow saplings interlaced in what is called wattle and daub construction. The building was clad with clapboard in 1865, hiding the inner walls, but park visitors can still see exposed sections on the interior, complete with fingerprints of those who worked on them. The aerial shot below of the mission today is courtesy of the Idaho Heritage Trust, which has been instrumental in many restoration projects at what is now called Coeur d’Alene’s Old Mission State Park.